Remembering World War I 第一次世界大戦下の日本

IJN battleship "Suwo"

It was this week in 1914 that the First World War began in Europe between the Allied nations (primarily Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey). Although it is often overlooked, the Empire of Japan played a significant part in World War I and, as in so many other cases, the conflict had a profound impact on the subsequent history of Japan and how the empire interacted with the world. At the time of the conflict, the Anglo-Japanese alliance was still in place and on August 7, 1914 the British Empire officially asked for Japanese assistance in thwarting the powerful East Asia squadron of the German navy. The Japanese government sent Germany an ultimatum, which the Germans ignored, and so on August 23, 1914 the Empire of Japan declared war on the German Empire. When Austria-Hungary refused to withdraw its cruiser, SMS Empress Elizabeth, from the combat area in China at the German port of Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary as well.

Japanese forces landing at Tsingtao

Imperial Japanese Naval forces quickly seized control of the German Caroline, Marshall and Mariana islands and laid siege to the German port of Tsingtao. The British also sent a token force to participate in the siege, mostly so as to give them some influence when it came time to determine how the spoils of war would be divided when the conflict was over. The Japanese also launched air attacks from the Wakamiya the first Japanese aircraft carrier (a seaplane carrier) which were the first naval aviation attacks in history. Japanese and British naval forces blockaded the port while troops cut off the port from the rest of China and moved in slowly. At one point, British troops came under fire from their Japanese allies, who had trouble telling them apart from the Germans. To prevent this from happening again, some of the British troops were given kimonos to wear over their uniforms so that the Japanese soldiers would recognize instantly that these were allies and not enemies.

Japanese troops attack Tsingtao

Japanese cavalry cut off the German rear guard and forced them to fall back, giving Japan control of all the approaches to the port. On October 17 a Japanese cruiser was sunk by a German torpedo boat but it was cut off from the port and had to be scuttled by its own crew. On October 31 the Japanese forces on land and at sea began an intense bombardment of the German defenses, recreating their successful tactics from the siege of Port Arthur. On November 6 the Japanese infantry charged the German third defensive line, overwhelming the defenders and forcing the Germans to fall back (there were also a small number of Austro-Hungarian defenders). This success convinced the Germans that their defeat was inevitable and so they asked for terms of surrender. These were decided but when the surrender ceremony was held, the Germans faced the Japanese soldiers in salute but turned their backs on the British soldiers. This outraged the British commander, but nothing could be done about it. Japan gained control of the German port but later turned it back over to China. Japan also was given a mandate over all the German islands north of the equator while Britain (or more specifically Australia) took everything to the south.

However, Japanese forces also served in other areas during the war. The future war hero General Homma, who would conquer The Philippines in World War II, served with the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. Imperial Japanese Naval forces escorted British troop ships from Asia to the main battlefronts in Europe, clashing with German submarines as far away as in the Mediterranean Sea. When the Sultan of Turkey declared a "jihad" against the Allies and called on all Muslims to revolt and attack the Allied powers, Japanese forces helped to suppress a mutiny by British colonial forces in Singapore. It is also noteworthy that the German troops who were captured by the Japanese all expressed how well their were treated by their captors while being held in prison camps in Japan. They thought that next time, they would want Japan to be on their side and some leaders were not prepared to wait. The infamous "Zimmermann Telegram" which brought the United States into the war spoke not only of Mexico attacking the USA in alliance with Germany but also of Mexico persuading Japan to switch sides and declare war against the Allies. This displayed a fundamental lack of understanding of the Japanese character as anyone in authority in Tokyo would have taken such a suggestion that Japan would betray her allies as a serious insult.

World War I Allied leaders

Yet, once the war was over, it was the Empire of Japan that felt very insulted by her fellow Allies. At the peace conference in Versailles, the Japanese delegation was practically ignored. Japan was accused of asking for too much even though most of what Japan had actually taken during the war, such as the vast tracts of the Russian Far East during the Siberian intervention, were all handed back to their previous owners. Japan also felt insulted by the Allied refusal to include a clause in the peace treaty affirming racial equality. The Empire of Japan was given permanent seat on the council of the League of Nations but this same body quickly displayed an anti-Japanese bias just as it was in the aftermath of the war that the British Empire broke off its alliance with Japan in favor of better relations with the United States and when Britain and America made agreements to limit naval armaments that put Japan at a distinct disadvantage compared to the other major naval powers. As with a number of other countries, the outcome of World War I helped set in motion the events that ultimately ended in the outbreak of World War II.